Safe words can’t keep you from Margaret Qualley’s cunning in the new trailer for Sanctuary. The upcoming erotic thriller stars Qualley a dominatrix willing to do anything to keep her favorite client, played by Christopher Abbott.

The trailer introduces us to Hal Porterfield (Abbott), the heir of a hotel empire who has been keeping a steady relationship with the professional dominatrix Rebecca (Qualley). Over their many dates, Rebecca skillfully guided Hal through his fantasies, helping him to gain confidence and become more aware of his sexuality. However, all good things come to an end, and as he gets ready to take over his father’s business, Hal decides to end his relationship with Rebecca. His mistake is to invite her to one last session in a claustrophobic hotel room. A confined space is the perfect setting to increase the tension, but when ropes and handcuffs are involved, it will get even harder to breathe when ropes and handcuffs are involved.

Taking place mostly inside a single room, Sanctuary follows the battle of wits and wills between Hal and Rebecca. He wants to affirm his desire and gain independence. She doesn’t want to be treated as an object to be discarded and has all the tools she needs to subjugate Hal. As the trailer underlines, Sanctuary will increase the temperature in more than one way, as Abbot and Qualley get entangled in an equally exciting and dangerous game. It’s been a while since erotic thrillers were a popular subgenre, but if it’s up to Sanctuary, they’ll soon have a resurgence.

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Image via Neon

RELATED: ‘Sanctuary’ Review: Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott Do BDSM Battle | TIFF 2022Sanctuary trailer promises the movie is the perfect mixture of sexy and unnerving, also thanks to its fantastic leads. Qualley has recently taken our breath away with Stars at Noon, another steamy thriller featured at the Cannes Film Festival last year. As for Abbot, he’s one of the reasons sex work-inspired horror thriller Piercing became an instant classic.

When Is Sanctuary Coming to Theaters?

Sanctuary marks the first feature from director Zachary Wigon since his acclaimed 2014 psychological romance The Heart Machine. Wigon directs from a script by Micah Bloomberg, co-creator of Amazon's Homecoming. The movie is produced by David Lancaster and Stephanie Wilcox of Rumble Films, with Ilya Stewart of Hype Film and Pavel Burian of Mosaic Films co-producing.

Sanctuary will tie you to the theater chair on May 25. Check out the new trailer, and the movie’s synopsis below.

The heir to a hotel empire (Christopher Abbott) and the dominatrix who has primed him for success (Margaret Qualley) battle it out in a hotel room as he tries to end their relationship.